


in all their glory

by kalypsobean



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Jensen Ackles Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 20:44:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5262932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/pseuds/kalypsobean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things that Jensen knows that it would seem Jared doesn't. "Do not walk through the abandoned construction site" is top of the list.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in all their glory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brokenhighways](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/gifts).



> a belated happy birthday to brokenhighways

There are things Jensen knows, from watching far too many movies than his mother (God rest her soul) would consider healthy and also from _basic common sense_. It seems Jared knows none of these things, and Jensen is annoyed about this. 'Pissed' would be another way of putting it.

"Well, why are you here, then?" Jared says.

"Because I can't leave you two alone for a second! You'd get abducted by aliens or something." Jensen nearly yells, he's that loud, and for a second he hates that he's so completely out of his own control that he nearly yelled at Jared, his best friend in the world, and Katie, Jared's not-girlfriend who's more like a girl who's a friend than a third wheel. Or Jensen's the third wheel and he doesn't know it, but, he refuses to think about that now. They're in the middle of the abandoned construction site, for goodness' sake. _It's a shortcut_ , Jared said. _Everyone does it, we'll be fine. Nothing ever happened there._

Jensen knows for a fact that there are at least two corpses under the foundations on the east side, just like everyone knows that the site was shut down because the cops found out the mob was underpaying scabs and some judge with less sanity than Jared put an injunction on building until the scabs and the original workers were paid in full. The ones that could be found, anyway. And of course, now Jensen's imagining ghosts coming up out of the piles of wet, rotting wood (shouldn't it have been treated?) - ghosts who are making weird bubbly sounds and definitely seem to be stepping over the guide ropes still pinned across the ground.

"Guys?" he says, no longer loud, in case the ghosts hear him. Jared and Katie are arguing about all the times they didn't get in trouble (because Jensen helped them out, of course, but now is not the time to get into how Jared nearly got a year in juvie for smoking weed with Chad in the school basement after Chad had robbed the convenience store with a twig and a teddy bear). "Guys? Um..."

Jared turns around just in time to dodge a punch from one of the weird bubbly sound-making ghosts, and it hits Jensen instead. It's definitely real, because it hurts. It's his dominant shoulder too, and he has his guitar lesson tomorrow. _That will be rough,_ he thinks, and even his thought-voice is high and giggly, like he's terrified.

Which, you know, he kind of is.

Somehow, mostly due to Katie, who apparently knows some stupidly cool moves, and Jensen's handy ability to duck just in time for a bubbly sound-making ghost thing to whack into a stray framing board, and in no way due to Jared, who stands there gaping and then starts filming the thing on his phone, they get out of the construction site.

"Nothing ever happens, huh?" Jensen says, out of breath. He snatches Jared's phone and deletes the video. 

"Hey," Jared says, managing to sound both hurt and indignant. Jensen does not care, not a bit.

"Nobody finds out about this, got it?" he says. "We don't know what they were or who sent them, and if we start talking, we're the ones in the nuthouse. Got it, Jared?" He addresses Jared because he knows Katie isn't stupid. She doesn't even have dust on her ankle boots, and he's fairly sure that he sees her slide a knife into some invisible pocket, if the glint in the sunset means anything. "We're not insane."

"Um." Jared says. His eyes are wide, and suddenly he's pale.

Katie ends up helping Jensen drag him home; it's not far, after all, since the construction site is actually a pretty good shortcut, or would have been if they hadn't spent time fighting off monster robber ghost things. 

"That was weird, huh?" Katie says, once they've left Jared's mom fussing over her poor baby boy. Apparently Jared faints a lot, or something, because they didn't even have to explain anything.

"Yeah, weird." Jensen says. "You're okay?" he asks, as they near Katie's house.

"I'm good," she says, with a wide smile. "It was kinda fun, actually. But definitely not doing it again. No." 

"You sound real convincing," he says. She laughs and runs up to her stoop, only turning to wave at him before disappearing into her house. Jensen raises his own hand and then, when the door is closed, he heads off to his foster house. They wouldn't really care if he stayed out longer, but he doesn't feel like it tonight; he just wants a shower, his bed, and a visual novel he doesn't have to really think about.

 

~*~

 

Days pass, and Jensen almost forgets about the whole thing, except for the nightmares and how, even though it's the weekend and they always go to the mall on the weekend, he doesn't want to go. It's not even that he's tired, even though he had two essays and a test this week and traded sleep for cramming. The thought of the mall, and walking home from the mall, makes his thoughts race and his heart speed up, and he just can't.

So, probably because Katie told Jared not to be a dick about it, they spend Saturday watching movies on Jensen's laptop in Jensen's room. It's not enough distraction, but Jensen appreciates the hug Katie gives him when Jared goes to pee (Jensen thinks he went to jack off, because foster parents only gave Jensen a single bed and they've all been squished against each other and Jared still hasn't matured past twelve).

"Hey guys, why don't we..." Jared is in the middle of talking as he's walking back into the room, when the room disappears and all sound is lost in the roaring in Jensen's ears. Everything is white, then blue, and then Jensen hits a very hard floor with a thud that echoes in the back of his head. Katie landed on her feet, of course, and helps him up. He leans on her a bit more than he needs, probably, but his glasses are askew and even if they weren't, the room is spinning. Although, it's not really a room, Jensen realises; his vision steadies at about the same rate his legs do, but there are a lot of glowing things that blink and do absolutely nothing for his head, at all. 

"Welcome, Jared, Jensen and Katie," a voice says. Jensen spins around to face it. Katie grabs his arm and he leans on her, again, but she adjusts him, somehow, so that her arm is around his shoulder and he couldn't fall without taking her with him.

He really appreciates Katie right now. Jared isn't much help at all; he's poking things and making whining sounds. The fact that they're not alone probably hasn't even occurred to him yet.

"We normally have more time for introductions," the little robot-man-thing says, "but matters have forced our hand somewhat."

"What matters?" Katie says. 

"Jared," Jensen hisses. Jared is still poking things, and a godawful blaring sound starts, timed to a red strobe light. Jensen has to close his eyes, because that is bright and it hurts.

"Sorry," Jared says. "Where are we, again?"

The robot-man-thing tilts its head and almost seems to give an exasperated shrug.

"I really need y'all to pay attention, and always, you're playing with the tech and asking silly questions. We don't have time, people." Jensen almost hears an ay-yi-yi at the end, but that's his brain playing tricks on him; he can tell because the robot-man-thing is still talking and his brain is supplying him with a memory of his mom stroking his hair as he sat on her lap, trying hard not to scratch at red dots on his skin as they watched television.

"You want us to be Power Rangers," he says, all the pieces fitting together in his head.

"No!" the robot-man-thing says, quickly. "Well," he continues, his (is it a boy? Jensen probably shouldn't assume, but, the voice seems male, and he really can't tell from the robot itself) head tilting again. "Yes, and no."

"Do we get powers?" Jared says. "Can I be the T-Rex one?" Jensen just knows Jared is bouncing on his toes, his hands twisting in front of him as he tries not to touch the robot-man-thing. 

Jensen has a sinking feeling. Powers are the last thing he needs, responsibility, things to explain and hide and even more stuff to do after school. Not his thing. At all.

"I only need one of you," the robot-man-thing says. "For now, anyway. Without the big man up there, I can only do so much, and I certainly can't be sending you off on a quest."

"Then why bring us all here?" Katie says. "Why not just pick one of us?"

"Because you can't do it all alone," Jensen says. It makes sense that Katie would be the one, after all; he definitely isn't doing it, and Jared, well, he's just too unreliable to be left alone. 

"Hey," Jared says. "I'm responsible." Jensen, for his part, is mortified that he was speaking out loud. 

"Chad," Katie says.

"Oh yeah." Jared says. "It's gotta be you then."

Jared deflates, almost, as if he said the clearly unspoken 'bummer' and let all the air out of his body.

"You two will have important roles, of course. But we have no time to go into all that now. You'll have to learn as you go."

Katie lets Jensen go, and he manages to stay upright as she steps forward and kneels so that she's eye-level to the robot-man-thing. "What do I have to do?" she says, as if there's no question that she'll do it, even though Jensen's fairly sure she doesn't know what it is.

The robot-man-thing holds out his hands, and from nowhere (or rather, yet another blinding flash of light that Jensen forgot to close his eyes for) a boxy thing appears in the air and floats down until he's holding it. Katie takes it from him. When she touches it, Jensen sees sparks, and suddenly it's attached to her wrist, looking for all the world like a really chunky toy bracelet. 

"This is a transformation device designed to enhance your natural abilities and provide you with a degree of protection from what you will face. I'm fairly sure you'll get the hang of it."

The blaring and red light come back, and the robot-man-thing sighs. "I'm going to have to send you now. Good luck," he says. 

For one second, Jensen catches Katie's eyes, and she looks terrified. He tries to make his face seem reassuring and smile at her, but as she disappears, he's fairly sure it didn't work.

"Oh wow!" Jared says. "Jensen, come look!" 

Jared is in front of one of the panels with the glowing lights, and a small screen has risen from it. There's a blurry image of some kind of thing, surrounded by the ghost things from the other day, and then there's Katie. Or not Katie; Jensen's not sure. It could be Katie, he thinks; it has blonde hair, like her, and it moves like her, but it doesn't look like her. 

"It worked!" The robot-man-thing claps his hands together. "I am quite relieved."

Jared is apparently enthralled with his post by the screen; he's found another one that has numbers and diagrams, and Jensen, looking over Jared's shoulders, figures it's Katie's heart rate and so on. She seems to be doing well.

"Jensen?" The robot-man-thing pulls him away and, miraculously, has a chair. Jensen sits down; he sinks into it, actually, because it's the most comfortable chair he's ever sat in. He could sleep in this chair. "Jensen, please don't faint. Put on the headphones, please."

"Headphones? Oh." Jensen lifts the headphones off the panel (where does all this stuff come from, anyway?) and places them over his ears. A microphone slides out and sits in front of his mouth. 

"I do not believe this. I do not believe this. I do not believe this." Katie is repeating, over and over, in between breaths and the strange sounds that she makes in gym class. She told Jensen once that it was to harden her body so that it didn't hurt as much to be hit, and Jensen never asked her how she knew that.

"Katie?" he says. "You're doing great."

"Jensen?" he hears. "Can you ask if this suit has weapons? I could really do with something sharp right now."

The panel in front of Jensen is dimmed, just enough that Jensen can still read the labels on the buttons without it hurting his eyes. There is one marked 'sidearm', so he presses it. 

"Whoa!" Jared says. "Jensen, she has a gun! No! It's a lightsaber!"

"That works, thanks," Katie says, and Jensen is left to listen to Jared's commentary and Katie's breathing until it's all over.

 

~*~

 

"I could sleep for a week," Katie says, as Robot-Man-Thing waves a wand over her.

"Bonding appears to have been successful. Rest is, indeed, recommended."

"Wait, bonding?" Jensen says. "This is part of her, now?"

Robot-Man-Thing nods. "The power has accepted Katie as its vessel. It will manifest through her as long as the threat exists."

"Threat?" Jared says. "Those things are coming back?"

Well, obviously, Jensen thinks. They already did, didn't they? He checks around in case he was thinking out loud again, but nobody is looking at him. Robot-Man-Thing is giving Katie a little booklet. "A history," he says, "of the threat you must quell. And now, I believe, I must send you back. Jensen, it appears that your foster mother has cooked for all of you."

"Wait," Jensen says, as the roaring starts in his ears. "Do you have a name?"

"I am Eric," Robot-Man-Thing says, and then he's gone.

 

The titles for The Aristocats are playing on repeat on Jensen's laptop as they tumble on the floor. 

"We do not tell anyone." Katie says. She helps Jensen stand and pulls his shirt straight. "Jared, you got that?"

"Right," he says. He still looks a bit dazed, even though he's the one sitting on the floor. 

Jensen's foster mom calls through the door. "Dinner, Jensen. There's enough for your friends to stay and eat with us."

"Okay," Jensen yells. "We're coming out."

"Wash your hands," she calls back. Katie stifles a giggle; her hands are covered in dirt and her nail polish is ruined. 

"You look fine," Jensen says, and Katie gives him a brief smile, though it doesn't quite touch her eyes. "It'll be fine," he says.

"We should have a cool name." Jared says, finally pushing himself up off the floor.

"Shut up, Jared," Katie says, at the same time as Jensen. Jared laughs at them and launches himself towards the door. "Dibs on the sink!" he shouts, and Jensen steps back, motioning for Katie to go before him.

His life is really weird, but it could be worse (he could be the one who's friends with Chad), although his head really hurts and he can't wait to lie down with the lights off. For a week, at least.

**Author's Note:**

> not a power rangers au.  
> exactly.  
> well it is and it isn't.  
> it has more in common with kamen rider, but it isn't a kamen rider au.  
> it's a thing that was in my head and now it isn't and i hope you like it.


End file.
